Netanyahu’s Latin American Tour to Highlight Israeli Tech Sector

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Facebook.

JNS.org – Latin America is “hungry for Israeli technology,” a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s historic visit to the region next week.

Netanyahu’s trip be the first of its kind by a sitting Israeli prime minister. He will visit Colombia, Argentina and Mexico during his tour, which begins Sunday. Apart from meeting the leaders of those four countries, he will also meet Paraguay’s president.

Modi Ephraim, deputy director general at the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Latin America and Caribbean Division, noted that the Jewish state has diplomatic relations with all Latin American countries — except Venezuela, Cuba and Bolivia.

Ephraim said that although Netanyahu will not meet Brazilian President Michel Temer, Israel’s “crisis with Brazil is over and the bilateral dialogue between the two countries is to be resumed in November.” Ephraim was referring to Brazil’s refusal to accept the ambassadorial credentials of former Israeli settlement movement leader Dani Dayan two years ago.

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Netanyahu will discuss Hezbollah, Iran and the fight against terrorism during his visit, as well as the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) activity in the region. Mexico, Colombia and other countries have not recognized a Palestinian state despite the PA’s diplomatic maneuvers on the matter.

Netanyahu will also honor the 114 people who were killed in the bombings in Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994, which targeted the city’s Israeli embassy and the Jewish community center known as AMIA. Four Israelis were killed in the embassy bombing.

The prime minister will be accompanied by Israeli business leaders from various fields, including agriculture, communications, water and security.